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THE ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM
Fifth Floor of the Centennial Building
Springfield, Illinois
Hours: Daily, 8:30 to 5. Sundays, 2 to 5 p. m.
Dept. of Registration and Education State of Illinois
HON. NOBLE J. PUFFER, Director HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Governor
Museum Board of Advisers
HON. VINCENT Y. DALLMAN, Chairman
Editor. Illinois State Register. Springfield
H. J. VANCLEAVE, Ph.D. FAY-COOPER COLE, Ph.D.
University of Illinois, Urbana University of Chicago, Chicago
HON. ROBT. H. BECKER, Outdoor Editor M. M. LEIGHTON, Ph.D., Chief
Chicago Tribune, Chicago State Geological Survey, Urbana
VIRGINIA S. EIFERT, Editor THORNE DEUEL, Museum Director
(Printed by authority of the State of Illinois)
THE CABIN ON GOOSE NEST PRAIRIE
Thomas Lincoln was disgusted with Illinois. He had been
disgusted with Kentucky, too, and with Indiana. It was in
the blood of the Lincolns to be restless and ever searching
for some Grail they never found, some goal they never attained.
And so Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, after a miserable winter in a
miserable cabin in which they were marooned in six feet of snow,
there on the windy prairie near Decatur, started back to Indiana
in the spring of 1831. They had lived through the Winter of the
Deep Snow. It was hard on everyone in the raw Illinois country
where living conditions were bad enough when the weather was good,
and unbearable when it was bad. Tom Lincoln had had enough.
So with their few belongings they started back on the muddy
journey to Indiana. Abe meanwhile had gone to Sangamo Town to
help build a flatboat for Denton Offut, and in April, on the
crest of the spring floods, he was on his way down three rivers
to New Orleans. But Thomas Lincoln was going back to Indiana.
At Buck Grove in Coles County, southeastern Illinois, he and
Sarah stopped over night with some friends who persuaded them
that Illinois was not so bad when you got used to it. The Lincolns
lingered. They finally bought a piece of land on the rolling acres
of Goose Nest Prairie, south of Charleston and Mattoon. The prairie
grass was high. It waved in the spring winds, copper-pink Andropogon
grass almost as high as a man, and blew like the ruddy fur of a
supine animal lying there on the hills and hollows of the land.
The soil was fair. No Lincoln, it seemed, had ever settled on
really good land or made much success of it, once he owned it.
But on the rising ground above the little creek, Tom Lincoln
built himself a good solid cabin, and settled there for the rest
of his days. A locust tree grew beside the cabin.
As usual, he did not prosper. The soil was stony and the prairie
grass was heavy-rooted and hard to grub out. He complained to his
son at New Salem, and later when Abe was a lawyer in Springfield,
and was given financial aid. In 1841, Abraham Lincoln paid two
hundred dollars for the east forty acres so that, regardless of
Tom's miscalculations, he and Sarah would always have a place to
live. Ten years later, Tom Lincoln died, and Sarah Bush Lincoln
lived at Goose Nest Prairie farm until her
(Continued on page 174)
170

The ownership of the content and images presented here is retained by the Illinois State Museum. Permission is granted for the use of these materials in non-profit, educational presentations. Queries for commercial or other uses should be made to the ISM editorial office (EDITOR@MUSEUM.STATE.IL.US).

The ownership of the content and images presented here is retained by the Illinois State Museum. Permission is granted for the use of these materials in non-profit, educational presentations. Queries for commercial or other uses should be made to the ISM editorial office (EDITOR@MUSEUM.STATE.IL.US).

THE ILLINOIS STATE MUSEUM
Fifth Floor of the Centennial Building
Springfield, Illinois
Hours: Daily, 8:30 to 5. Sundays, 2 to 5 p. m.
Dept. of Registration and Education State of Illinois
HON. NOBLE J. PUFFER, Director HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON, Governor
Museum Board of Advisers
HON. VINCENT Y. DALLMAN, Chairman
Editor. Illinois State Register. Springfield
H. J. VANCLEAVE, Ph.D. FAY-COOPER COLE, Ph.D.
University of Illinois, Urbana University of Chicago, Chicago
HON. ROBT. H. BECKER, Outdoor Editor M. M. LEIGHTON, Ph.D., Chief
Chicago Tribune, Chicago State Geological Survey, Urbana
VIRGINIA S. EIFERT, Editor THORNE DEUEL, Museum Director
(Printed by authority of the State of Illinois)
THE CABIN ON GOOSE NEST PRAIRIE
Thomas Lincoln was disgusted with Illinois. He had been
disgusted with Kentucky, too, and with Indiana. It was in
the blood of the Lincolns to be restless and ever searching
for some Grail they never found, some goal they never attained.
And so Thomas and Sarah Lincoln, after a miserable winter in a
miserable cabin in which they were marooned in six feet of snow,
there on the windy prairie near Decatur, started back to Indiana
in the spring of 1831. They had lived through the Winter of the
Deep Snow. It was hard on everyone in the raw Illinois country
where living conditions were bad enough when the weather was good,
and unbearable when it was bad. Tom Lincoln had had enough.
So with their few belongings they started back on the muddy
journey to Indiana. Abe meanwhile had gone to Sangamo Town to
help build a flatboat for Denton Offut, and in April, on the
crest of the spring floods, he was on his way down three rivers
to New Orleans. But Thomas Lincoln was going back to Indiana.
At Buck Grove in Coles County, southeastern Illinois, he and
Sarah stopped over night with some friends who persuaded them
that Illinois was not so bad when you got used to it. The Lincolns
lingered. They finally bought a piece of land on the rolling acres
of Goose Nest Prairie, south of Charleston and Mattoon. The prairie
grass was high. It waved in the spring winds, copper-pink Andropogon
grass almost as high as a man, and blew like the ruddy fur of a
supine animal lying there on the hills and hollows of the land.
The soil was fair. No Lincoln, it seemed, had ever settled on
really good land or made much success of it, once he owned it.
But on the rising ground above the little creek, Tom Lincoln
built himself a good solid cabin, and settled there for the rest
of his days. A locust tree grew beside the cabin.
As usual, he did not prosper. The soil was stony and the prairie
grass was heavy-rooted and hard to grub out. He complained to his
son at New Salem, and later when Abe was a lawyer in Springfield,
and was given financial aid. In 1841, Abraham Lincoln paid two
hundred dollars for the east forty acres so that, regardless of
Tom's miscalculations, he and Sarah would always have a place to
live. Ten years later, Tom Lincoln died, and Sarah Bush Lincoln
lived at Goose Nest Prairie farm until her
(Continued on page 174)
170